1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to stents for use in dental restoration and methods for making and using the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Vuillemot, U.S. Pat. No. 7,217,131 B2, discloses a method for forming a dental restoration that involves: (a) preparing selected teeth to be restored for bonding with a fluid polymer composition; (b) covering teeth which are not to be restored with a polymer release material; (c) fitting a clear polymer composition mold over the teeth to be restored and the teeth not to be restored, which mold provides a closed space to be filled between the teeth to be restored and the mold which defines a shape of the restored teeth, wherein the mold has an inlet port for injection of the fluid polymer composition and an outlet port for removing any excess air and excess fluid polymer resulting from the injection; (d) injection molding the fluid polymer composition into the mold to fill the space in the mold with the covered teeth and the teeth to be restored; (e) curing the fluid polymer composition onto the teeth to be restored in the clear polymer composition mold; and (f) removing the mold from the teeth and the tape from the covered teeth to provide the restored teeth in the patient. The process must be repeated in order to restore teeth that were covered with release tape during the first dental restoration procedure.
The processes disclosed by Vuillemot represent an advance in the dental restoration art. But there is substantial room for improvement. For example, it would be highly desirable to be able to restore a plurality of teeth in a single procedure, including adjacent teeth. Furthermore, it would also be highly desirable to be able to more accurately restore a plurality of teeth in a relatively short period of time in a single procedure.